Purdy: San Jose Sharks pull off overtime win in 'Survivor' game

SAN JOSE -- At the start of overtime Saturday night, the ambience inside HP Pavilion was maybe 50 percent impending excitement and 50 percent impending doom. Basically, it was a feeling that an entire playoff series might hinge on what would happen in the next few minutes.

The HP Pavilion crowd sensed that. So did some of the Sharks. At least the ones willing to admit it.

"I certainly felt we needed to score right there," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "You've just got to rise to the occasion. And we did."

As the OT began, the Sharks and Los Angeles Kings were tied on the scoreboard 1-1. And thanks to two Kings penalties, the Sharks were facing more than a minute of a 5-on-3 power play advantage -- plus 37 more potential seconds of a 5-on-4 edge.

San Jose Sharks Logan Couture (39) fires the puck to score his game-winning goal against Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick (32) in the overtime period in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at HP Pavilion on Saturday, May 18, 2013. The Sharks beat the Kings 2-1. (Josie Lepe/Bay Area News Group)
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Josie Lepe
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Now or never? Not exactly. But it was now or you-never-know. And the Sharks didn't want to get to the "you-never-know" part. Between the third period and overtime, the home dressing room was filled with adrenalized chatter and ideas. Todd McLellan, the head coach, worried that maybe the room was too amped up. So everyone calmed down and began strategizing.

"We talked about what would happen with both of those power play situations -- and also what would happen if we got to 5-on-5," Sharks centerman Joe Pavelski said. "But we wanted to end it quickly, obviously."

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The 5-on-3 began with a lost faceoff by Pavelski. Ouch. Valuable seconds vanished. Forward Logan Couture -- who had missed a good chunk of the second period with an apparent left ankle injury before returning to the ice -- just missed the net on one shot. Ouch. Couture then forced Kings goalie Jonathan Quick to make a good save on the other. Ouch. Boyle fired a shot that was blocked. Ouch. The 5-on-3 was over.

With the crowd gurgling and howling and murmuring and agonizing, it was on to the 5-on-4 sequence. And just 10 seconds later, there was Couture again. Patrick Marleau found him open about 12 feet in front of the net and smoothly fed Couture the puck, but that was after a pass by Joe Thornton to Marleau near the goal post caused the Kings defenders to focus on him and create the open space for Couture.

And this time, as Couture pivoted on his injured wheel and fired, he did not miss. Quick had no chance to react. The puck was past him. Sharks 2, Kings 1, game over.

Great shot to save a season, perhaps. We won't be sure for certain until the next game and the next. And maybe the next and next after that, if this goes the distance.

But this much was definitely sure: A loss Saturday, with the Sharks down 0-2 in games to the Kings, would have effectively ended any realistic chance for our beloved Los Tiburones to win the series.

Couture was not available for comment after the game because he was receiving treatment for his unspecified injury, though he is expected to play Tuesday night. He'd better. The rest of the roster is so depleted, any hands are welcome. If you wish, you can also give the Sharks an unofficial victory in a "Survivor" contest after Saturday's win.

They began the evening without forward Raffi Torres because of his suspension. Then they lost two more forwards (Couture and Marty Havlat) and one defenseman (Scott Hannan) by the middle of the second period to injuries.

Havlat never returned. Hannan did. Couture went to the training room for 15 minutes and returned, to loud cheers. Pavelski claimed -- with tongue in cheek -- that he didn't really know what had happened when Couture had left the ice originally. So he wasn't stunned when his teammate returned.

"Usually, Logan's a little quicker with his equipment changes," Pavelski said. "I thought he must be having trouble with the (skate-sharpening) machine or something."

The Sharks feel that for most of the three games so far, they have been the better team. It seems more accurate to say that the Sharks and Kings have been equals, with the results depending on clutch plays at clutch moments. More are to come. The Sharks played half the game on guts Saturday. But they finished in style. They'll need both qualities Tuesday and beyond.